Friday, February 21, 2025, 11:50PM |  28°
MENU
Advertisement
Some school districts may be paying too much to transport students, according to the results of a statewide audit.
1
MORE

Auditor: Pennsylvania's school districts overspending on pupil busing

Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette

Auditor: Pennsylvania's school districts overspending on pupil busing

State audit highlights contracts without bids

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania school districts may be spending millions too much on busing, the state auditor general said Tuesday.

Examinations by his office found 19 school districts in 11 counties paid a total of $54.8 million more for transportation during different periods between 2004 and 2014 than what the state determined was the maximum amount it would consider for the calculation of reimbursements, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said.

Only one of those districts had competitively bid transportation services during the audit periods, according to DePasquale. He said school districts should be required to seek bids on such contracts.

Advertisement

“I want to put more education dollars into our classrooms, not in our school buses,” he said at a news conference at which he made the recommendation.

Among the school districts he flagged was the Souderton Area School District in Montgomery County, which DePasquale said had paid $5.7 million more than its maximum allowable transportation costs during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 years.

In a statement, the Souderton district said that although it does not use a competitive bidding process for student transportation, it has worked to get the best value for the service, as evidenced by a March 2015 contract with three years of no increase to district costs and two years of 1 percent increases.

The district also said it is impractical to compare its transportation costs to its reimbursement amount under the state formula because the formula does not account for the high cost of living in southeastern Pennsylvania or for the prevalence of students who must be transported to institutions that provide special education.

Advertisement

“The funding formula applies a ’one size fits all’ approach to a much nuanced service provided by districts,” the Souderton statement says.

DePasquale also cited six school districts in Allegheny County, including Allegheny Valley, Deer Lakes, Highlands, Riverview, Woodland Hills and West Jefferson, for paying between $871,000 and $4.9 million above their maximum allowable costs during the years under review. DePasquale noted that Riverview School District had competitively bid transportation services during the audit period.

Ira Weiss, solicitor for the Highlands School District, said the district’s contract with a local company freezes its transportation rates in the upcoming school year. But he said rates are not the only consideration.

“The quality of the service is very important,” he said. ”It’s not like buying widgets.”

The other districts named by the auditor general were in Lackawanna, Washington, Armstrong, Blair, Crawford, Greene, Lehigh, McKean and Westmoreland counties.

The state calculates a district’s maximum allowable transportation cost from the number of students transported and the number of miles traveled, according to the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. A measure of local wealth then is used to calculate how much of the maximum allowable cost will be reimbursed by the state.

PASBO said in a statement that it agrees with encouraging the periodic bidding of transportation contracts. But it said the formula used to determine the maximum allowable cost should be reviewed.

In a phone interview, Jeff Ammerman, director of member assistance for PASBO, said a district’s maximum allowable cost is increased each year by the consumer price index, but that this measure does not account for changes in the price of fuel.

“If the CPI goes up by 3 percent but the price of fuel goes up by 200 percent, this maximum allowable cost formula doesn’t really take that into account,” Ammerman said.

The spending by the 19 districts was found during audits of about 450 of the state’s 500 school districts, with about 63 percent of those audits examining transportation costs, according to the auditor general’s office.

Karen Langley: klangley@post-gazette.com or 717-787-2141 or on Twitter @karen_langley.

First Published: May 12, 2016, 6:52 p.m.
Updated: May 13, 2016, 3:17 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Two slices of New York-style pizza and one cut of Sicilian at Etna Slice House in Etna.
1
life
Etna Slice House is 'closed until further notice' following pizzaiolo's departure
Mayor Ed Gainey during  a press conference at the Downtown Public Safety Center on Thursday. He angrily criticized what he believes negative media coverage of his work as mayor.
2
opinion
Brandon McGinley: ‘The wheels are coming off’ the Gainey administration
Longtime KDKA-TV host Jon Burnett on May 22, 2019.
3
a&e
Jon Burnett, long a KDKA-TV staple, leaves legacy of ‘putting good out into the world’
The Breezewood Interchange is dotted with gas stations, chain restaurants and souvenir shops. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has selected Chicago-based Alfred Benesch and Company to spearhead a major redesign of the notorious roadway.
4
business
So long, Breezewood: Chicago firm selected to redesign infamous Pa. Turnpike interchange
Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, center, speaks Friday outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
5
news
Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio arrested near Capitol on assault charge after news conference
Some school districts may be paying too much to transport students, according to the results of a statewide audit.  (Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)
Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST news
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story